Hope
by BlueRaith
Summary: Dr. Hope Martin knew at which points her life had gone wrong. At the time, however, she never would have guessed that the man she would fall in love with would end up causing her far more pain than happiness. A domino effect that would culminate in one final betrayal for the only lasting positive effect their relationship left. Series of one-shots from Hope's point of view.


Chapter 1

Someone was watching her. She was sure not because she felt his stare or such other nonsense, but because she saw him. A glance away from her anatomy textbook gave her the opportunity to catch him. He was quite brazen with his looks as well considering that he did not glance away from her when she would meet his gaze.

She wasn't sure what to think. Objectively, she was aware that men found her attractive. It wasn't vanity, but merely the conclusion garnered from previous interactions with the opposite sex. Most men that did such staring as this one did employed a lewd leer to convey their attractions. She was never comfortable interacting with these types. However, while the young man currently gazing across the library at her had been doing so for quite some time now, he was not gazing at her in any way similarly as those that did so with purely sexual intentions.

Rather, there was concentration on his features, which were quite handsome in her opinion, and when she gathered the courage to outright gaze back at him instead of her previous quick glances, he gave her a smile. It wasn't a smirk, like one given to her by an older man when she caught him staring at the cafe last week, but something warmer and more genuine. She was intrigued.

Gathering her notes, she quickly, yet neatly, replaced them in the proper sections of her binder, and closed her textbook. She wanted to know why he was enthralled by her and he was not nearly close enough to enquire his interest from her current table. Quietly as she could, needlessly loud library patrons always irritated her; she made her way to the empty chair at his table.

It was only when she was standing right beside said chair that it occurred to her that the young man could consider her presence an intrusion. Of course, staring was quite rude, but he wasn't the one directly interrupting any studying. He had distracted her a bit, though she could have ignored him like the others. Interestingly, she noted that she did not want to and now found herself awkwardly standing next to a stranger to ask if she could impose on him.

Blushing, she prepared to no doubt stutter out her question, but was surprised when he saved her the effort. His smile had turned into a grin sometime during her walk over and pushed out the empty chair while keeping his seat. He put his hands on the table once he did so and brought her attention to what laid out on the surface. He had no books, nor binders and folders. There was just a drawing pad and a single pencil. Neither was particularly noteworthy in and of themselves. It was what he had drawn that absolutely took her breath away.

She looked down upon a copy of herself. The portrait was a near perfect, carefully reconstructed portrayal of her studying at her table. She was much more comfortable with sciences, but it was simple to tell that her admirer was gifted. From her seat, she could now tell what he could see from his vantage point. Her former table was of course visible, but so were many others and the library was busy due to midterms. There were plenty of different people he could have chosen. She was flattered.

"Oh..," was all she could come up with. Her impressive vocabulary leaving her in this moment was bothersome to say the least. He had to have worked on her portrait for quite some time to achieve such impressive results. Likely the two hours she had been here and she couldn't even express herself.

"You're beautiful," he said simply.

She could see the frank candor in his impressive blue eyes. He wasn't flirting, or at least not in a shallow manner, he was expressing an irrefutable fact in his eyes. She could feel her blush intensifying.

She finally took the seat he pushed out for her and hoped that he knew just how much she appreciated his talent by the gesture. It was foolish, she knew, to come so flustered by a pencil drawing. Though, it was so much more than that. He was so handsome with his blue eyes and brown hair that had the slightest red tint to it. He was also a bit older than her now that she could get a good look at him. She'd had attractive admirers before, so his features weren't all that had her now admiring him, though they certainly helped, she couldn't draw her gaze from his eyes and how they regarded her.

Like she was beautiful. In every sense of the word.

"I'm Patrick."

"My name is Hope."

* * *

**And it's Hope and Paddy! Yeah, so this little plot bunny has been bothering me for some time. I haven't written anything for a while, however, after watching Season 3 and 4 and reading a ton of fanfiction, it's been bothering me that some stories paint Hope out to be some bad guy. Honestly, I find her and Paddy's romance to be quite tragic. She ends up losing the love of her life and the baby that she visits once every year for 19 years after being told she died. While I don't think that Hope's actions towards Maura have been right, I think I can understand where she's coming from. Paddy, is of course a terrible person _now _but I don't think he started out quite so bad when he and Hope were younger. **

**I based this entry off of Hope telling Maura that she and Paddy met when she saw him drawing her. I haven't decided if I want to leave this a one shot or go into some other thoughts I've had on the two based on what Constance, Paddy and Hope have all said regarding the latter two and their relationship. Whatever happens, I don't see this becoming a story about Paddy and Hope's romance, per se, but rather some select moments of how things went down from Hope's point of view. Things like how they met, how Paddy may have reacted to Hope's pregnancy, Hope finding out her lover is a mobster, the "death" of Maura, and perhaps some shots at between the scenes of her and Maura's interactions in the show. Honestly, I happen to like Hope and I hope that she and Maura figure out their relationship, as I can just see them debating over all the sciency stuff that Jane isn't interested in.**

**So, let me know what y'all think as I value input.  
**


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